Tom Higgins is CAO of First Data and serves on the management committee. He leads cyber security, physical security, business resiliency, and crisis management and is the driving force behind First Data’s military and veteran’s affairs function that focuses on the employment of military members, their spouses, and veterans.

In 2010, Tom retired from a 24-year career with the U.S. government, where he worked in the national security and foreign policy areas and as a member of the senior executive service. A U.S. Navy veteran, Tom attended the U.S. Naval War College and is a graduate of the State University of New York Maritime College.

“My Irish ancestors on both my father’s and mother’s sides of the family came to the U.S. to seek opportunity, freedom, and success,” Tom says. “I have always believed it was my duty to achieve something that would honor their journey and their struggle.” He is second-generation Irish American on his father’s side, with connections to Mayo, and fifth-generation on his mother’s side, which is rooted in Kerry. Tom and his wife, Fiona, live in New York.